BAY CITY, MI — A woman who police say stole money from residents of a Bay City adult foster care facility where she worked has pleaded no contest to a felony charge.

Debra J. Arnold, 53, of Bay City, on Thursday, Aug. 22, appeared in Bay County Circuit Court and pleaded no contest to one count of embezzling from a vulnerable adult more than $200 but less than $1,000. The charge is a five-year felony.

In pleading no contest, Arnold did not state her guilt. The presiding judge had to rely on police reports to place a conviction on the record.

Police began investigating Arnold in September 2012, when the manager of an adult foster care facility reported a resident was missing $500. A check issued in that amount to the resident had been cashed on Aug. 7, the manager told police.

The cashed check had Arnold’s driver’s license number on it, the manager told police. When the manager confronted Arnold, a caregiver at the facility, she denied cashing the check, court records show.

Police interviewed Arnold on Sept. 25. Arnold said she had worked for three years for Bay Human Services as a resident manager at Brookwood Home, 909 W. Murphy St. in Bay City. She told investigators she cashed the resident’s check and brought the money back to Brookwood, adding she never denied cashing the check to her manager, according to police reports.

In October, police received copies of three other checks from Catholic Family Services written to another resident and cashed by Arnold. The amounts on the checks appeared altered, police reports contained in court records show.

Police interviewed Arnold again on Oct. 19. At that time, police allege Arnold said she changed the checks’ amounts and took the money for her own use. Investigators said she told them she intended to pay the money back.